THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Makcii 20. 
EFFECTS OF THE WINTER. 
A correspondent at Mounts Bay, Cornwall, whose garden 
has a south aspect, and is half a mile from the sea, sends 
us the following list:— 
Foliaye more or less injured where much exposed to the 
wind, hut not otherwise. — Common Bay, Pinus excelsa, 
Cupressus funebris, Common Laurestinus, Benthamia fra- 
gifera, Veronica speciosa, Andersonii,and Lindleyana, Myrtle, 
and Taxodium sempervirens, which last has eminently belied 
its name, being perfectly brown, and the extremities of last , 
year’s shoots have perished. 
Uninjured —Pinus Hartwegii, Insignis, Cepbalonica, Gerard- 
iana, Pinsapo, Araucaria Brazilicum, Cryptomeria Japonica, 
Libocedrus Chilensis, and Camellia Japonica. The young 
shoot of the Hydrangea does not appear to have suffered. 
Dielytra spectabilis is pushing rapidly. 
Geraniums, Calceolarias, and Verbenas that had survived 
previous winters have perished. 
The common Evergreens and Pines not mentioned 
exhibit no trace of the frost in their present appearance. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
GARDENING. 
RURAL CUSTOMS IN CORNWALL AND AMERICA. 
“ Can you, or any of your readers, inform me whether the 
following customs," mentioned by Colonel Landmann, in 
his ‘Adventures and Recollections,’ are still practised?— 
Inquirer.” 
“ My last visit to Helston was on Flora-day, the 8th of 
May (1707J. At the time of which I am writing, this was 
one of the gayest and most interesting festivals of olden 
times. 
“ At an early hour of the afternoon lads in their best 
: attire, with their full dressed belles, having real llowers in 
their hair, and carrying large bouquets of wild flowers, 
I began to arrive from the surrounding country; their appear- 
1 ance in the town served as a signal for the residents to sally 
I forth, and join in the promenading about the principal streets. 
Presently the music, consisting of a drum and fife only, was 
heard calling those who were willing to dance, to assemble 
in the market-place, whence they quickly advanced in couples 
dancing through the streets to a particular tune played on 
the fife and drum. At certain corners of the streets or 
other fixed places, they all stopped and faced each other in 
country dance order, when the leading couple danced down 
to the bottom ; they then proceeded as before in couples to 
the next halting place, upon which the couple at the head 
began to dance down as the first had done, and the whole 
again progressed to the next corner. In this manner the 
procession went on until every couple had bad its turn: 
those joining the dance on the way after leaving the market¬ 
place, no matter who they were, went to the bottom of the 
couples that had not danced down. 
“ In this the higher classes joined without reserve or 
distinction, all mixing in perfect equality; and the party I 
was with, which had required several carriages to bring 
them from Falmouth, shared in this truly innocent and 
joyous amusement. We had dined at one of the hotels, 
and by five o’clock turned out to join the dancers in the 
streets. At about seven o’clock, long before the sun had 
disappeared, all those usually admitted to the subscription 
balls retired to the assembly-room, and kept it up until 
twelve, when the whole dispersed. * * * * 
“ The season in Canada had now arrived for gathering 
the Indian corn, of which a great quantity was produced in 
the neighbourhood at our camp ; and it was the practice 
with the farmers to assemble a corn-bee—that is, to invite 
all the young girls and young men of the adjacent farms to 
meet in the great barn where the corn, roughly torn from 
the stalks, had been deposited, in order to strip the ears of 
the leaves. As an inducement or reward for that work, 
every young man who found a red ear of corn was licensed 
to select one of the girls and kiss her, whilst he held the 
red ear over her head. The fortunate youth was then 
481 
required to throw the red ear on the heap of picked ears, ! 
at the further end of the bam. It, however, not unfrequently 
happened that the red ear found its way into the pocket, 
and a white ear of corn was thrown on the heap; and it is 
probably needless to explain that the red ear was reproduced 
as often 'as a red ear was desired—a fraud which the girls 
were not over zealous to detect. 
“ To these parties Johnson and myself were invariably 
invited, and we soon arrived at the art of finding a red ear 
of Indian corn as often, if not oftener, than the oldest and 
most expert peeler of Indian corn-leaves. I do not remem¬ 
ber if the ladies had any peculiar privilege allotted them, 
when they had the fortune of finding a red ear; but I think 
I perceived one of them pass a red ear into the hand of a 
favourite, upon which he immediately claimed the exercise 
of the privilege it conferred.” 
[Any one who can give us the information sought for by 
“ Inquirer ” will oblige us by communicating.] 
FLOWERS FOR CIRCULAR-TERRACED BEDS. 
“ Please inform me, in your next number, the names of 
some two or three flowers that will cover a bed of this shape 
in the spring, before I plant out Scarlet Geraniums, <fcc. 
1 
2 
3 
“ Blue Nemophila, I thought, would suit for one. (This, 
and N. maculare, are the best for you.) Erinus alpinus, 
another purple; and I want a yellow for the middle. 
(Alyssum saxatile is the best.) 
“ Will the Nemophila insignis flower soon enough ? If not, 
please tell me what will suit the bed. I have applied to a 
great many gardeners for some seed of the Erinus his- 
pctnkus, without success. Where can it be had?—D. H., 
A Subscriber." 
[It would be only leading you astray to say that there are 
any plants known in this country with which it is possible 
for you, or for any one else, to carry out the design you 
purpose. Go to what expense we choose, we can never 
depend on the flowering of spring bedding-plants, including 
annuals, before the middle of April, on the average of the 
seasons, and seldom so soon ; and such beds are in their 
prime just when we want them for Calceolarias, and other 
summer plants. The first spring herbaceous plant which is 
suited for a mass is Arabis alpina, or grandijlora, by which 
name it is known in some of the London nurseries. It 
flowers for six weeks, coming in the beginning of February, 
in early seasons ; but there is no other to match it during 
that period. It is a low, spreading plant, with white flowers 
and whitish leaves, and should be in every spring garden, 
but in patches only. The next plant of the herbaceous 
class, to flower in the spring, is Ranunculus amplexicaulis, 
which blooms, generally, three weeks after the Arabis, and 
lasts for three to four weeks ; it is also a white-flowering 
plant, and no higher than the Arabis, or four inches; but 
the growth is very different. This, also, ought to he as 
common as Snowdrops ; hut there is not enough of it in the 
three kingdoms to make six respectable beds ! and like the 
Arabis, it is not suited for beds, only for patches. On the 
average of seasons, these two are the only real herbaceous 
plants for the whole month of March ; therefore, it is clear 
we cannot have beddings of herbaceous plants this month. 
In April we have the Alyssum saxatile and variegata, witli 
bright yellow flowers, which bed or mass much better than 
auy of the Calceolarias. This is the best yellow plant for 
you. JDoronicum Austriacum is another yellow bedder in the 
spring, from the middle of April, but lias a very common 
look, being a low, spreading plant, with abundance of 
common, yellow composite flowers, not much better than 
